The Return of Tustin's Japonaise Bakery & Cafe

A few months ago, I reported that Japonaise Bakery & Cafe ceased to exist, but that it was being transformed to become something else, something that the employee working at Cream Pan next door vaguely told me was going to be a "Japanese restaurant." Others rumored that it was going to turn into a noodle shop.

After months of incubating, it looks as if the new Japonaise -- which debuted recently and appears to be like the old one, except with more booths and condiments on every table -- will grow up to become a more full service restaurant than what it was before. But this is no noodle shop.

Edwin Goei was born on the island of Java, grew up in La Habra, studied in Irvine, and eats everywhere. Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, he went by the alias "elmomonster" on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.